Emergency P-1A Visa Appointment for Professional Boxer Artur Beterbiev

Sherrod Sports Visas is excited to announce that Artur Beterbiev has been cleared with a P-1A visa to compete for a World Championship in Madison Square Garden on June 18, 2022. It is more difficult than ever to obtain timely visa appointments, especially in places with long waiting times like Canada. We were able to successfully navigate through a tough consular situation to get his passport stamped without much interruption to the fight camp.

Artur Beterbiev Obtained P-1 Visa as an Internationally Recognized Athlete

Artur Beterbiev is widely recognized as one of the best boxers in the world regardless of weight class. While he is Russian by birth, he is a permanent resident of Canada and has trained in Montreal for years. In 2017, he was denied a visa to the United States and missed out on the title elimination bout because he was coming on the wrong type of visa. In those days, it was common for Canadian fighters to come on B-1 visas for fights and it was thought this is ok if the purse money is paid by the Canadian promoter. Lately, Consulates are red flagging these situations and making sure that fighters have P-1A visas to compete in the United States. The rule is that B-1 visas are only appropriate for prize money, if there is “show money” involved, the B-1 visa is not appropriate. 

Sherrod Sports Visas Expedited Appointment Services 

In the video above Sherrod Seward describes the details and issues related to consular processing in this situation, which is becoming pretty common. This situation involved a required request for interview waiver (which was granted), denial of visa at interview waiver, setting up an emergency appointment in Toronto and presenting a 212(d)(3) waiver at the consulate. 

If you are a professional athlete or a coach and you need help with your visas, please contact us at 310-209-8645 or email us at info@sherrodsportsvisas.com. We will be happy to assist you.